How to remove and delete cookies

Posted on June 14, 2008 at 5:36 am

Want to clear your browser of all cookies stored locally on your computer? Cookies, sometime called Web cookies or tracking cookies, are small pieces of text sent by a server to a web client (your browser) and then sent back unaltered by the client every time it accesses that server.

Cookies are used for several different purposes including authenticating, session tracking, and maintaining specific information about users, such as their site preferences or the items in their shopping carts.

Of course, you already know that cookies are a concern for Internet privacy because they track user behavior on the Internet, hence why you are looking for a way to delete or remove them, right? The problem with cookies is that they may not always provide accurate identification of a user and they can be exploited by hackers.

Cookies are quite common on many major websites and do not contain any spyware or viruses. They are simply pieces of data that help differentiate users. You can easily remove cookies from your computer in both Firefox and IE by following these simple steps:

How to remove cookies in IE

Open IE and go to Tools and then Internet Options.

Under the Browsing History section on the General tab, click on the Delete button.

Now click on the Delete Cookies button. This will delete all cookies stored on your computer for Internet Explorer.

If you don’t want to have cookies stored at all on your computer by any website ever, then you can click on the Privacy tab while in Internet Optios and then click on Advanced.

Now check the “Override automatic cookie handling” and now you can decide to block first-party and third-party cookies. This basically turns off cookies on your computer so no tracking can be done.

How to remove cookies in Firefox

In Firefox, removing cookies is even easier! Click on the Tools menu option and then choose Clear Private Data.

Check off Cookies and then click on Clear Private Data Now. This will delete all of the cookies stored on the computer for Firefox.

You can also turn off cookies in Firefox so that no cookies are ever stored by going to Tools and then Options. Then click on the Privacy tab.

You would un-check Accept cookies from sites and Accept third-party cookies. That would prevent cookies from ever being stored on your computer. Remember that when you block cookies though, there will be many sites that will not be able to remember your preferences for things like layout, starting page, etc.

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7 Responses to “How to remove and delete cookies”

basicomputer said on : July 9th, 2008 at 5:59 am

Thanks for the tips.

keith penzel said on : December 1st, 2008 at 12:58 pm

thanks, your tips have helped me alot,

Ken said on : January 21st, 2009 at 1:06 pm

All your info was very useful. I am not so computer savvy and have a hard time rembering how people tell me how to do things sometimes. I printed this info for future reference. Thanks so much. Ken

capa said on : January 30th, 2009 at 10:39 pm

thank you for the tips

Randy said on : February 8th, 2009 at 12:08 am

Thank you for the help. I am not very good with the computer and was perplexed. You helped out and explained things very well.

Randy.

demz said on : February 9th, 2009 at 12:08 pm

thank you so much for the tips

F S said on : February 11th, 2009 at 2:31 pm

I am a fastidiously private guy, heavily libertarian (which, in a nutshell, means leave me alone), and I do not think I am going too far in thinking cookies are basically evil and always have been. I have no need for a Web site to remember me, am happy to sign in every time I visit, and am never looking for an enhanced browsing experience.

There are some Web sites that obnoxiously insist that one have cookies enabled. Can you tell me if the “Keep until” I close FireFox actually eliminates ALL cookies? My settings are, “Accept cookies from sites,” but not third party, and until I close, and “Always clear my private data….”

In IE, my settings are accept first party, allow session, and block third. (I only use IE for email.) In the old days, I used to have to delete the cookies offered, then go into the index file and delete the cookie information there less the backup cookie listings in the index file restore the cookie information to the main file. Now I cannot find an index file so I cannot tell what is possibly being backed up.

As you can tell, I understand the use of cookies but see no use of them for my benefit. Please tell me if there are other settings (or other browsers) so as not to incur any cookie tracking or storage.

Thank you.